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Lombardy is one of two Italian regions voting to ask the government of Rome to grant greater autonomy and recognise its speciality as the country’s economic engine room. They are asking to be able to retain more resources for themselves and to decide the best way to spend tax revenues.

Moving from Milan in the north, next stop is Brianza, an area of small and medium-sized companies that sits in the Paris-London-Hamburg-Monaco industrial pentagon at the heart of Europe, its richest and most productive region.

Canzo is a commune of 5,000 people in Como province. Here, there are many who are in favor of autonomy, for economic reasons

“The money we earn here in Lombardy, we are certainly not imagining it will all stay here but most people would prefer that,” said one woman.

“If they want more autonomy they have to go to the government and sit at the table to discuss with them. The referendum is meaningless,” said one man.

TRAFILSPEC is a company specializing in the production of steel components for the automotive sector. It has a few problems to be competitive.

“Unfortunately today in Italy the price of electricity is greatly affected by taxes and excise duties. My German competitor spends less than half of what I do. I will vote because I consider this referendum to be very important and in my opinion autonomy will allow not only Lombardy or Veneto but also all regions to acquire awareness and maturity in deciding how to invest their resources,” says CEO Fabrizio Ricco.

“This symbolic, non-binding referendum will allow the opening of talks with Rome to ensure greater autonomy for Lombardy. Those who have strongly wanted this referendum, like the president of the Region, the Northern League’s Roberto Maroni, hope one day to retain for the territory at least part of the 54 billion euros tax that Lombardy transfers to the central government,” reports euronews’ Paola Cavadi.